Quotes from Andra Day

The elementary school I went to, Valencia Park, was focused on the arts.

I was living with my mom in a tiny apartment in Chula Vista, near Third and H Street behind the 7-Eleven. It was crazy to be on the phone with Stevie Wonder. I felt like a meteor hit our apartment!

The visuals are equally as important as the music. It's all a complete experience.

I went to a performing arts school, and we studied musical theater, jazz vocal performance, and they kind of start you out on those things because they feel like it is a good foundation, and it was.

I danced for a while, and I knew I could sing, so I just began singing in a praise band at church and doing musical theater and jazz vocal performance in school. One didn't really lead to another; I was just always interested in the performance arts.

I established early what I was and wasn't willing to accept. People tried to say what I had to do, whether it be pop or R&B, to be successful. Even when I was in the girl group, they would try to make our voices sound very radio-friendly and fit that mold. But even before I got signed, I knew who I was and who I wanted to be.

When I heard Billie Holiday's voice, Nina Simone's and Ella Fitzgerald's - there was something about their voices to me that was such a different texture than what I was used to listening to at the time. Hearing those jazz voices were so different, and I think I just gravitated toward it.

My style icons are Lucille Ball for her bouffant hair and all the updos, James Dean for his rockabilly style - the denim and rolled-up T-shirt thing. And I am also inspired by Dita Von Teese and Gwen Stefani. Their style is retro, but it's still very feminine at the same time.

Performing at the TMCF Awards Gala is so exciting.

I'm not going to put myself in a box.

My style was established in the Forties and Fifties, then got dragged through the decades and picked up a couple more things on the way.

When I'm not working, I still love bright colors and patterns, but I choose pieces that are much more casual - I call it my lazy pinup look.

It was so surreal, having my parents hear the President and First Lady saying to me, 'Good to see you again! We're so proud of you. We watched you on the Grammys and were like, 'That's our girl!'

As my face got cleaner, my relationships got cleaner.

I try to not go, 'I'm writing a pop song.' Music is inherently genre-bending.

The album 'Cheers to the Fall' is really kind of me breaking out and being like, 'Listen, I don't care about criticism, and I don't care about possibility of failure. I'm going to do it. And if I do fail, well then, here's to it.'

Throughout my life, I've had consistent DNA.

I was a dancer for long time. And you always hear that ballet is the core of dance, and that - once you have that down - you can do everything else. For me, jazz is like that for music.

When I was 20, I wanted to be famous and win a Grammy and have people respect and love me.

I do devotion in the morning. I pray and I read the word.

My prayers are being answered for my career. These are prayers I've been praying for as a kid.

I gleaned different style ideas over the years. In Southern California, there is a big rockabilly sub-culture. So when I would go to car shows, I would see women dressed like this. I had a teacher in high school that always had her Bette Paige bangs.

When you walk in the front of the White House, the pictures on the walls, they change out pretty frequently. They're all very cool and historical, with pictures from the current term and past terms.

I always loved music and was drawn to it and affected by it. But it wasn't until I got to San Diego that I started exploring music more.